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2025 EOY Issue
Back of House
December 16, 2025
Issue #284
2025 didn’t ease us in — it sprinted. The year opened with ticketing reform chatter, consolidation rumors, and renewed optimism that this might finally be the year all-in pricing stuck. Meanwhile, the industry kept doing what it does best: growing, consolidating, innovating, and occasionally lighting itself on fire. Let’s dive into it…
January
January wasn’t quite a slow start. LA wildfires forced the live ecosystem into triage mode — with resources, mutual aid, and event disruption lists circulating fast, and the Rose Bowl effectively becoming a base camp for firefighters. If 2025 had a tone-setter, it was that: the live business as community infrastructure, whether it wants the job or not.
On the policy side, the UK came out swinging with a plan to tackle ticket touting, while New York introduced Senate Bill S276 aimed at bots. Over in industry-land, venues kept trying to future-proof the pipeline with grassroots funding models — including the UK’s Live Trust initiative — while NITO pushed for more transparency via its call to expand junk fee enforcement.
TikTok got a lifeline… for now.
February
February was the month where “benefit infrastructure” became a real operating system. FireAid moved from announcement to impact as donations rolled in (and were matched), and the broader industry continued leaning into “prove your value” narratives via large-scale economic framing.
Ticketing stayed on brand. AXS pushed deeper into frictionless entry with biometric ticketing while the UK kept pressure on pricing tactics — including dynamic pricing scrutiny in Parliament. Bots remained the boogeyman, with Oasis tickets reportedly getting canceled due to suspected bot activity.
And yes: someone tried to sell $1.1M worth of Fyre Fest 2 tickets. Of course they did.
March
March was peak “the future is already here, it’s just unevenly distributed.” FIFA formalized the sportification of music spectacle with a World Cup final halftime show plan that’s basically trying to build a Super Bowl moment from scratch — and paying the cultural tax that comes with it.
Ticketing crime and enforcement also had a moment: scammers got nabbed in a StubHub scheme involving stolen and resold tickets, while Europe continued tightening standards, including Ireland’s move against ticket scams. Product-wise, Eventbrite kept evolving its consumer story with its app redesign and broader app push, while Spotify leaned harder into discovery-to-transaction with “Concerts Near You”.
SXSW lives on.
April
April was a month of escalation. Ticketing reform moved from theory to pressure as lawmakers, regulators, and trade groups all sharpened their language — even if the timelines stayed fuzzy. The DOJ’s posture toward Live Nation continued to hang over the market, with analysts and operators parsing every development for clues about how disruptive enforcement might actually be (DOJ antitrust posture).
Meanwhile, consolidation kept chugging along. Deals closed, partnerships reshuffled, and private capital remained convinced that live entertainment is still a growth story — just one that now comes with more disclaimers. Sustainability continued to split the room: visible wins at the top of the market, harder math everywhere else.
Madonna was late (again).
May
May brought the annual reminder that festival season is no longer a guarantee. Rising costs, insurance pressure, and cautious consumers pushed several events to the brink, while others quietly stepped away altogether — including Kelce Jam getting canceled just four days before it was supposed to happen.
On the ticketing front, reform stayed noisy but unresolved. Live Nation pushed to shut down mass arbitration at the Supreme Court, escalating the fight over how consumers can actually challenge ticketing practices (see here).
More festivals canceled..
June
By June it was peak “the machine keeps moving,” even as the edges frayed. Brands kept chasing cultural proximity — including Airbnb’s global live music partnership with Lollapalooza — while touring culture kept surfacing its own pressure points, like Dierks Bentley launching the Broken Branches Fund for mental health support in the touring community.
On the business side, Live Nation expanded again with its acquisition of SD Concerts, and the “ops layer” of the industry got another vote of confidence as TicketManager landed a $110 million investment. Ticketing reform also kept inching along: NITO endorsed the RESALE Act, while Maine passed what’s being called “the toughest in America” ticketing law.
July
July leaned hard into “the industry is strong… except when it’s not.” NIVA dropped its first-ever State of Live survey, and the headline was complicated: the State of Live might be strong, but the majority of venues still aren’t profitable (sigh). Meanwhile, international ticketing crime stayed very online: a BBC investigation found UK ticket scalpers using coordinated overseas networks, tied to India and Pakistan.
Safety became a louder part of the operating budget, with Toronto committing $2.1M CAD in grant funding for festival security upgrades. In the UK, the season’s tension was captured in one sentence: police opened a criminal investigation after incidents of hate speech at Glastonbury.
Beyoncé’s show got a little too adventurous.
August
August brought turbulence — financial, operational, and literal. Avant Gardner filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the FTC stepped up enforcement with its first major crackdown on BOTS Act violators (FTC action). Live Nation kept expanding its global footprint, growing its stake in OCESA in Mexico and acquiring Team Event in New Zealand.
Indies did what indies do: collaborated. A group of west-coast festivals rolled out a shared Golden Ticket / IndepeDance pass to fight stagnating sales, while Matty Healy backed the grassroots Seed Sounds Weekender to support indie venues. And on the darker side of “big crowds,” a fan tragically fell to their death at Oasis at Wembley (BBC).
Tomorrowland’s mainstage went up in flames. Yep. August, man.
September
September had range: sustainability wins, big swing “immersive” bets, and the kind of headline moments that make you remember why this industry is exhausting and fun.
On the sustainability front, Co-op Live touted major progress at Billie Eilish shows — including slashing food-related carbon emissions by 47% — while Outside Festival doubled attendance and put receipts behind the push with its 2025 Impact Report (nice job, team). In “Vegas will be Vegas” news, a Wolfe Research projection around The Wizard of Oz underscored how lucrative — and weirdly plausible — the residency arms race has become.
And yes, the Fyre Fest saga somehow found new legs: LimeWire won the brand bidding war via its press release. Because the meme must live on. Out of left field!
Zach Bryan had the biggest, best night in Michigan — 112,408 of his closest friends (Go Blue ;).
Rapino said concerts are too cheap; Antonoff pushed back. Drammaaaa.
October
October was one for the books: consumer behavior, venue economics, and ticketing reform all got quantified — and none of it was particularly comforting.
AEG UK’s Gen Z research, The Live Effect, put “joy” and live events at the center of spending priorities (even under pressure), while MusiCares published its 2025 Wellness in Music Survey results alongside practical relief resources. NIVA went deeper on venue reality with state-by-state versions of its State of Live reporting — here — and the takeaway stayed consistent: demand may be strong, but profitability is not guaranteed.
On the “MSG will MSG” front, Sphere tech bled further into the portfolio with Radio City moving into upgraded Sphere Immersive Sound. Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Mirage saga took another turn as Avant Gardner headed toward demolition with a demolition permit.
Ticketing reform stayed LOUD. Ticketmaster got hauled into the conversation again via a congressional letter it sent to US Senators, prompting responses from NIVA and NITO. NITO also quantified the pain with its NY Ticket Fees report. (And yes, drip pricing stayed in the mix, including a reported class‐action lawsuit.)
November
November was lawsuits, fraud, and government action — with a few “this is why we can’t have nice things” stories thrown in for balance.
A festival fan sued after an artist allegedly threw a beer can from stage. Live Nation/Ticketmaster faced another legal flare-up, including being sued by eChanging Barcode, LLC. On the platform side, StubHub’s problems piled up: a class-action lawsuit tied to its FanProtect Guarantee, plus a separate fraud issue involving scammers accessing accounts despite 2FA.
Live Nation kept pointing to strength with its Q3 results — record year trajectory — while regulators kept circling. Belgium opened scrutiny into Live Nation’s Pukkelpop acquisition, with the competition authority announcing it would open a probe as coverage detailed the watchdog’s reasoning around assessing the likely effects of the takeover.
And then the UK did the thing everyone’s been arguing about for years: it officially announced a ban on resale over face value. AXS was happy and NIVA called for the US to follow suit — with Denmark offered as the “see, it can work” case study: It does in Denmark. The real question is – will this be put into law in the U.S. by the time our EOY 2026 recap rolls around?
StubHub stayed in trouble.
December
December closed with the kind of “only in live” combo platter: ticketing drama, political whiplash, and international tension bleeding straight into culture. StubHub’s post-IPO storm intensified with investors suing StubHub over allegedly false/misleading statements ahead of its IPO, while the broader Live Nation/Ticketmaster saga kept moving as a judge allowed a Swiftie suit to proceed — because of course it did.
On the corporate side, Eventbrite found its next chapter, agreeing to be acquired by Bending Spoons in a ~$500 million deal. In venue world politics, Tim Leiweke got a reset button, receiving a full presidential pardon that raised plenty of eyebrows across the business.
Globally, geopolitics kept spilling into programming as China halted Japanese concerts and cultural events amid tensions over Taiwan.
Real quick…
If you want deeper dives, early access, and the full archive of what we covered this year, All Access is where it lives. We’d love for you to upgrade! It’ll cost ya the price of a sandwich for the whole year. You heard that right.
Last Week's Results:
Quebec just joined the UK and others in targeting above-face-value resale. 55% of BOH readers feel we are potentially beginning to see the beginning of a worldwide shift, but enforcement will make or break it.
In 2025, BOH published 50+ issues covering ticketing reform, touring economics, platform shakeups, and the increasingly blurred line between politics and live culture – in real time, occasionally with caffeine, and always with education being our priority.
Top issues:
Top articles clicked:
The 2025 BOH Gift Guide!
If you want deeper dives, early access, and the full archive of what we covered this year, All Access is where it lives. We’d love for you to upgrade! It’ll cost ya the price of a sandwich for the whole year. You heard that right.
As 2026 takes shape, the questions feel familiar — but the stakes don’t. Regulation is closer, margins are thinner, and live remains both fragile and unstoppable.
As always, thank you for reading, sharing, and keeping us honest. We’ll see you on January 6th — rested, caffeinated, and ready for whatever comes next.
Cheers.